Three held for thrashing teenage couple in Latur

Three people were arrested today after a video surfaced purportedly showing a group of men thrashing a teenage couple in Latur district, objecting to them "cavorting" in public.

The Murud police in Latur district registered a case against the assailants after a mobile phone video clip of the incident surfaced. The incident happened in November but the clip went viral only recently. "I have instructed the Latur Superintendent of Police to take immediate action.

The Latur police have arrested three persons," Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde said here. "Such a behaviour does not befit our culture," Shinde said, after his attention was drawn to people belonging to an outfit called "Ganimi Kava" (guerrilla squad) who went about allegedly thrashing couples in public spaces.

Member of the State Women's Commission Chitra Wagh of the Nationalist Congress Party said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should also ensure that sections of Information Technology Act are applied against those responsible for making the video clip of the assault go viral on social media.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Rural Affairs Minister Pankaja Munde condemned the assault on the teenage couple, but asked people to abide by what she called "social norms". "I condemn the incident. No organisation has the authority to interfere in anyone's personal affairs.

If they have problem, they can complain to the police. Beating up girls is not our culture. So I condemn these so called saviours of culture for beating up the girl," Munde said. "(But) Those who move outside should abide by social norms so that other people are not disturbed," Munde said.